Abstract
Using fourteen waves of data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), a longitudinal panel survey with respondents in the United States, this research explores whether marital quality—as measured by reports of enjoyment of time together—influences risk of divorce or separation when either spouse acquires basic care disability. Discrete-time event history models with multiple competing events were estimated using multinomial logistic regression. Respondents were followed until they experienced the focal event (i.e., divorce or separation) or right-hand censoring (i.e., a competing event or were still married at the end of observation). Disability among wives was predictive of divorce/separation in the main effects model. Low levels of marital quality (i.e., enjoy time together) were associated with marital dissolution. An interaction between marital quality and disability yielded a significant association among couples where at least one spouse acquired basic care disability. For couples who acquired disability, those who reported low enjoyment were more likely to divorce/separate than those with high enjoyment; however, the group with the highest predicted probability were couples with low enjoyment, but no acquired disability.
Highlights
The ability for a couple to adapt to major life stressors may be shaped by marital characteristics including marital quality (Bulanda et al 2016; Umberson et al 2005)
If these expectations are not met, it is possible that spouses will seek to end the marriage or separate. Another potential explanation may come from the added closeness that can arise from supportive caregiving arrangements among spouses (Yorgason et al 2008). Regardless of these explanations, our findings suggest that risk of marital dissolution following acquired basic care disability is conditional on marital quality—underscoring that it is not just experiencing changes to health or impairment that elevates risk of divorce/separation, but the context in which these changes happen within couples
We are only able to include a baseline measure of marital quality, yet marital quality is shaped by health and may change throughout the course of a relationship (Bulanda 2011)
Summary
The ability for a couple to adapt to major life stressors may be shaped by marital characteristics including marital quality (Bulanda et al 2016; Umberson et al 2005). The purpose of this research is to examine the role of marital quality in the risk of marital dissolution following disability (for either spouse) among different-sex older couples. We focus on basic care disability as measured by Activities of Daily Living (ADLs), which captures difficulty with bathing, eating, dressing, walking short distances, getting in and out of bed, and toileting. This type of impairment is closely linked with caregiving and is more common with advancing ages (Verbrugge and Jette 1994). We apply a life course perspective to understanding how acquired disability within couples may strain or change marital dynamics leading to an elevated risk of marital dissolution
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